That's the way to do it

I picked up a brand new copy of Wolfenstein: The New Order ‘Occupied Edition’ from GAME for £9.99. The digital download is even cheaper on the PlayStation Network but that doesn’t come with an art book and postcards. I decided to read GameCentral’s archive review before I bought it even for the measly amount I paid and to quote you ‘reminded us very much of GoldenEye 007, and there’s still few better compliments than that for a single-player only shooter’.

I’ve just finished it and I can say it’s definitely a 9/10, just like you said. Reminded me of Half-Life 2 in places and GoldenEye a lot. This is how to do a single-player first person shooter campaign mode which a few other games could take a lot from in this genre… ahem Call Of Duty.

Also picked up The Old Blood for £8, which I haven’t started playing yet but I’m sure I’m going to love too. Total bargain for anyone who likes mature shooters I don’t know how it got under my radar the first time around. One last thing before I finish. I played through Fallout 4 twice reaching levels 89 and 98 respectively. Unambitious… yes, but also I feel that it’s a game that made the fans happy.N1ckTheGReek (PSN ID)

GC: We glad you liked, it’s definitely our favourite shooter story campaign of the last several years. The Old Blood isn’t quite as good but still well worth playing.

Three paths

Been loving Black Ops III since November 4th 2015. It is the first Call of Duty that I’ve bought on the same day as release. In fact, it’s the first one I’ve bought within the same two year period it’s been released!

I’m seriously considering getting the season pass which I’ve not done with a Call Of Duty before but I have two issues that hopefully GC and the community can help me with.

Firstly, I noticed very early that all the multiplayer maps have the same kind of design. I found out later that Treyarch purposely design their maps like this using a ‘three paths’ template with the paths interconnecting in different ways on the various maps. On one hand I can understand why they would do this: if they’ve found what they think is a successful formula they are going to stick with it but on the other hand, is this not going to get boring for us players? I’ve never dove deeply into a Call Of Duty game before so I have no I idea if Infinity Ward or Sledgehammer have their own template they stick to but with 16 maps to come all with the same template it doesn’t sound very exciting.

Secondly, how varied is the rotation for DLC maps in Call Of Duty? The only games I’ve bought season passes for previously are Battlefield 3 and 4. I know the way the server system works is different to Call Of Duty but my problem with the Battlefield DLC is that for the first two to four weeks the newly released maps are popular, you can easily find almost any game mode on the new maps but then after about four weeks there is a sharp decline in availability and you struggle to find severs running the DLC. Especially if you want to play anything other than Conquest. Do all Call Of Duty DLC map packs get a regular rotation over the game’s lifespan?

Thanks in advance and happy new year to all!PsillyPseudonym

GC: The three paths theory is a Call Of Duty staple but it’s not something that every single map has. And servers and map choices work completely differently to Battlefield, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

Story of the bones

Despite telling you, several months ago, that I would not be playing Fallout 4 my brother bought me it for Christmas so I felt obliged. I dipped my toe into its radioactive waters expecting to feel quite distressed since I have an aversion to any movie or game with a post nuclear war setting. Having never played a Fallout game I am happy to say that I am thoroughly enjoying everything it has to offer. Fallout 4 feels uncannily similar to Skyrim but I don’t know why I didn’t expect that, given that they are both Bethesda games.

I think the visuals are great and so far, I have witnessed very few bugs and glitches. My personal highlight was the robot with the gameshow host personality. In fact, I have found myself laughing a lot more than I expected but the game can also be rather unsettling. I’ve never seen such effective use of skeletons and corpses as a method of storytelling.Biglizafish (PSN ID)

Get what you pay for

£500/$600 for Oculus Rift is not remotely surprising to me. I am not really sure how anyone ever thought it would be possible to bring something that worked to market at anything less than $500.

The biggest issue with Kinect was that it did not work and the main reason behind that was Microsoft trying to be profitable at a price under $200.

These VR units had two options:
1. Cheap and not work properly.
2. Work well but be a luxury item.

I can very much understand going for the second option, especially as PC owners seem to spend all their time online posturing about how they are rich and can spend $2,000+ on their rig. And how much better they are than console ‘peasants’ and their cheap $500 consoles. It seems perfectly reasonable then to price the Oculus Rift at a price point about what PC users keep saying is affordable for peasants.

Personally I am glad they went for the approach of making a unit that actually works. Hopefully Sony also follow suit with theirs. (As that is the one I will purchase.)PazJohnMitch

Creating a rift

I knew the Oculus Rift was going to be expensive, but £500 seems a little ridiculous. What’s even worse is that we once again have to pay more than the Americans for something when you take the exchange rate into account.

I know many gamers were looking forward to the hardware, but I think the designers may have created a… rift… between themselves and the people who have been following the progress of the Oculus Rift.iLike Fat Ladys (gamertag)

Import only

I have a few good questions regarding the Oculus Rift. Is there any difference in design or specs of the UK and US versions of Oculus Rift and if not would it not be cheaper to purchase and import one from an American store? Surely an American and UK Oculus Rift would work on either a UK or US Xbox One right, or am I missing something?

At present the Oculus Rift will launch over here in the UK for £500 and $600 in the US. If you decided to buy from from the US it would be £409.92 in our money and even with the import charge it would still work out cheaper than buying from a UK store, correct? Also, waiting for price drops would be a good way to reduce this cost even further when importing from the United States if possible.

Perhaps some US stores should consider offering import options to those in the UK as if they can sell the Oculus Rift cheaper to those in the UK then it would bring a lot of UK people over to buying Rifts from them.

Would this be possible or not possible to import an Oculus Rift?gaz be rotten (gamertag)

GC: Everything is shipped from the US, there is no UK store to buy it from.

Forgotten skills

I tried re-playing Tomb Raider III on my PlayStation 3 years after I first completed it on the original PlayStation, and I had the same experience as DMR. I was hopeless, couldn’t even get Lara to walk in a straight line never mind doing anything as complicated as jumping using just the buttons. And yet when I first played it I had no problems at all.

I think the reason is simple. We’ve become so used to using the analogue sticks to control character movement and camera angles over the years that we’re just out of practice with the original method which I think, in retrospect, took more skill. In effect we’ve become spoiled but I have no quarrel with that. I don’t think I would have the patience to play a game using the old control methods any more.Gill C.

Old Core

DMR’s comments about the old Core Design PlayStation Tomb Raider controls are simply wrong. He damned a control system just because he found he was not any good with it.

It is understandable if you’re used to the relative ease and universality of modern analogue stick movement controls. Going back to or experiencing for the first time a D-pad based system will be a shock. But that doesn’t mean the system is bad, far from it.

Using the D-pad for movement was the norm at the time, as Sony required their games to support the original PlayStation controller which did not include analogue sticks. As somebody who cut their gaming teeth during this era I can tell you the Tomb Raider D-pad controls were, and still are, very good in comparison to many other games of the period. It is perfectly matched to the gameplay which, unlike the most recent Tomb Raider iterations, is grounded in puzzle platforming.

The dedicated Tomb Raider forums indicate that these old Tomb Raiders are still very popular and attracting new players even now.

Those of us who play them regularly recommend the D-pad controls even with those games which support analogue sticks. It takes some getting used to but in the right hands the subtlety and precision possible via the D-pad is a skill still applicable to some modern game types.

Ironically, it is actually the analogue stick controls introduced with Tomb Raider III that even us old school Tomb Raider fans have difficulty with. They have a dead zone, they’re loose and unresponsive but only on the PlayStation. However, use joypad control for the same games on a PC or the ingenious dual system adaptation to the one stick Dreamcast controller and you’ll find it is much better.

In fact, the ease with which you can still get most old Tomb Raiderss to run on a PC I suggest those who have difficulty with the PlayStation D-pad controls try this as an alternative.Malcolm Lawn

Inbox also-rans

Can’t see it happening, but it’d be great to see this recreated in Halo 5. Level of rarity? Of course Legendary!ttfp saylow (gamertag)
Now playing: Halo 5 and Rayman Legends

When will you be getting and reviewing the CV1 Oculus Rift?Palmer

GC: Well, the pre-order backlog is currently three months…

This week’s Hot Topic

There’s only one obvious subject for the weekend Inbox at this time of the year: what game are you most looking forward to in 2016?

We’ve already compiled our list of the games that are most, and least, likely to be released this year, so do use that as reference and let us know what you’re most excited about – or have already discounted.

Feel free to mention any more obscure titles too, as long as they’re scheduled to be released this year, and let us know anything else you’re looking forward to from the world of video games in 2016.